ARTL, JOSEPH A. (31 Jan. 1893-23 June 1970) was one of Cuyahoga County's most respected public officials in a career spanning 4 decades. A product of Cleveland's Fleet Ave. neighborhood, he was the son of Bohemian immigrants, Mr. and Mrs. John Artl. After graduating from South High School, he worked as an accountant at the Newburgh Works of the AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE CO. while attending Cleveland Law School (see CLEVELAND STATE UNIV.). He received his law degree and was admitted to the bar in 1923. Artl was elected to CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL in 1932, serving as Democratic minority leader and briefly in 1936 as Council President. Although he withdrew from the 1935 mayoral election in the interest of party harmony, he was appointed in 1936 to Cleveland Municipal Court, where he presided for the next decade. In 1947 Artl was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court, where one of his most notable decisions was the issuance of an order in 1949 enjoining employees of the CLEVELAND TRANSIT SYSTEM from continuing a work stoppage. Named the county's outstanding Democrat by the 33rd Ward Democratic Club in 1961, Artl was elected in 1963 to the 1st of 2 terms on the Ohio Court of Appeals (8th Dist.). He was married twice: in 1915 to Sadie Sue Minarik, who died in 1957; and in 1959 to Ethel Placek, a widow who predeceased him by a few months in 1970. Artl died in Cleveland, survived by sons Adelbert J. and Lawrence J. and stepdaughter Mrs. John Zuber.
Finding aid for the Joseph A. Artl Papers. WRHS.
Finding aid for the Joseph A. Artl Papers and Photographs, Series II. WRHS.